So Mrs Dawson is in her late pregnancy months, and there is a new teacher in town, and he is a Muslim.

I didn't need to find out about his name to realise that he was a Muslim. My sixth sense kicked in!! I guess when a Muslim lives in a non Muslim society, he or she develops this talent that can detect other Muslims even if they are miles away.

At last, another Muslim in my school, even if he was a teacher, I was starting to feel that I was from a rare species.

Be careful what you wish for, Jannah!!!

He was pretty young, well built with a man bun. He looked really cool for a teacher. As soon as he entered, the girls started whispering about how handsome he is. I mentally facepalmed myself

" Oh no, now I have to witness the flirting bomb that is about to explode in this class, literally!! " I said to myself

" Hello, my name is Zayn Ahmed " the new teacher said.

He asked us to introduce ourselves, but when it was my turn, I introduced myself, then he came to where I sat and said

" Assalamualaikum, nice to meet you Jannah " he whispered, I could feel the girls eyes burning through my back.

" Great, now they will plan to assassinate me!! " I said to myself

I didn't know why he distinguished me, but I thought he wanted to give a fellow Muslim a special treatment.

The class started, he had a pretty decent style, I didn't feel there was a gap between his knowledge and Mrs Dawson's.

He would frequently ask questions during the class, and chose a student to answer it, he chose me the first time.

" Miss Mohamed " he said.

Alhamdulilah, I answered it, I didn't want to be embarrassed in front of a teacher in his first day, plus he was a fellow Muslim.

But the problem was that it didn't stop there. The next time he chose me too, I thought that it would stop there. But he chose me for the third time. I thought I was raising my hand subconsciously but I wasn't.

I could hear the students complain about it. But suddenly I heard a loud knock, I looked back and it was James.

" I guess Miss Mohamed is not the only one in this class " James said angerily.

" Sit down Mr Wayne, it's my decision to make " Mr Zayn said sternly.

" Well that escalated quickly " I mumbeled.

Of course I noticed that Mr Zayn gave me more attention, but may be he had good intentions. How would I know!! I've never had a Muslim teacher before!! May be he wanted to make sure that I study well.

The bell rang

" Finally, Alhamdulilah " I sighed.

" Miss Mohamed, can I have a word with you?!! " Mr Zayn said.

" Great " I said to myself.

I went to where he was standing in hesitance.

" You are one of the best students I've ever had " he said smirking.

" Thank you Mr Zayn " I responded gratefully, but I couldn't understand the smirk.

" Keep up the good work, I'm gonna keep my eyes on you " he said.

But I didn't know that he meant it literally!!

I thanked him again and left the class, James was waiting for me outside.

" What was that!?!" He asked angerily.

" It's none of your business I guess, Two Muslims speaking with each other. What are you gonna do about it?!! tell the FBI!! " I said trying to drive him even crazier.

" You noticed the way he treated you and you like it, don't you? " he said.

" And what are you, my father, my brother!!! " I said teasing him.

" I may not be your father nor your brother, but I care about your reputation, girls have already started speaking about you two " he explained.

" I don't care, girls speak anyway " I said.

" Jannah, you don't understand I care about you " he said in surrender.

I can't deny that I was really happy at his words.

" I haven't forgiven you yet, remember?!! " I said reminding him.

" I have apologized a hundred times girl and you still haven't " he said shrugging.

" Yeah, because I have a condition " I said.

"And what is your condition?!!" He asked.

" I slap you on your face right here, right now!! " I explained.

" What...,Okay I agree " he said in surrender.

To be honest, I was surprised that he agreed in the first place. I thought he was gonna say " are you crazy " and leave me alone. May be he does really care.

" Okay prepare your face " I said in a challenging tone.

He closed his eyes, and tilted his head as if waiting for a bomb to go off in his face not a girly slap.

I held my laugh, got out my phone and snapped a picture of his funny face.

" Hahahaha, you should see your face!! " I giggled.

He opened his eyes, not believing that I've just pranked him.

" Ha ha, very funny " he said, pretending to be upset.

" Did you really believe that I would slap you?!!" I asked.

" Well I deserved it..........so am I forgiven my princess?!!! " he said.

" You are, but I'll take it back if you call me princess again " I explained.

" Sorry, sorry I take it back ......princess " he whispered teasing me.

" James........Wayne " I said pretending to be angry.

" Okay okay " he giggled.

I said goodbye and left him.

I gotta admit I was smiling to myself the whole way home.

There have been two weeks since Mr Zayn showed up at my school, and everyday James had given me a hard time about it.

He would interfere when Mr Zayn is speaking to me, he would make stupid Jokes during the class, Mr zayn had taken him to the princible's office countless times.

Also the girls, they have been speaking behind my back non stop, they have started every rumor in the book about me and Mr zayn.

I also started to feel that him paying so much attention to me, and to me alone, wasn't normal at all. It wasn't about me being Muslim, there was something else I didn't have a very good feeling about.

Until our unevitable face off came true.

" What is this???" James said as soon as he saw me by the lockers, he was holding his phone up to me to show me somthing, but I didn't look Anyway.

" What??" I said carelessly.

" This..... Look at this " he said, almost slamming his phone into my face.

" Hay!!" I said taking the phone off his hand to see what's on it.

It was a picture of me speaking to Mr Zayn, the picture only showed my back, but showed Mr Zayn's face, he was smiling like an idiot.

" What is this??? The whole school have this on their phones, they were even speaking about this in my class, the muslim girl is having an affair with her teacher!! " he asked.

" All this because a student was speaking to her teacher!! I guess this is much ado about nothing " I said.

" Jannah, don't you be smart on me, you know what I mean?? He is not even shying away from the fact that he likes you, everytime he speaks to you he makes this obvious, he is setting his traps around you, it's like he wants you for himself... For himself only " James said.

" And why do you care?? " I asked him as I was getting ready to leave.

" Then you are either stupid or blind, and I know that you are neither of those " he said, grapping my arm.

" Then you are too coward to admit it " I said looking him in the eye, freeing myself from his grip.

" Is that it, ha??" he said, slamming his hand against the lockers behind me, giving me a heart attack.

The sound of his fist clashing against the metal attracted the other students' attention to us.

" What are you looking at???" he shouted at one if them.

The other students just looked at him and walked away from the situation because they were too afraid to face him in that state of anger.

I was petrified, I never saw him this angery before, So My body instantly changed It's posture into defensive mood, I didn't know what his next move was going to be.

" Well listen to me Jannah Mohamed, I like you... A lot....and I hate this, I hate this sense of helplessness, I hate that I can't have you, yet I am falling deeper and deeper for you, this is insane, and it doesn't even seem like me but I can't help it, you created a monster, so deal with the consequences " he said, leaving me in the middle of the hallway.

It was a miracle that I stayed up on my legs after he left.

He said the words, he said them, I've been waiting for so long to hear them from him, but now that I heard them I became afraid of losing him, I became afraid of being with him, I became afraid of him.

I've heard before that when men fall in love, they don't hide it, they don't shy away from it, they announce it out loud, and if they can't get what they want they will build a wall around you until nobody else can get you if they can't.

Now he is turning into a monster because of me, now I'm having a bad influence on him, and I hate it, I hate myself for it, and I hope he forgives me for it.

That day after our little dispute, I had biology and Alhamdulilah he wasn't there, and every body was giving me the looks.

Now they definetely think that I'm a bad person for messing around with a teacher and A student.

After the class, I rushed to outside, but I heard footsteps following me, of course I instantly identified the person.

" James... Just don't " I said trying to walk faster.

" Jannah.. I'm sorry, I wasn't like myself, I'm genuinly sorry " he said in a begging tone.

" No you are not, and you are right, we should stop this right here right now, it is not going anywhere" I said, coming to face him.

" No, Jannah, I was being jealous I'm sorry " he said.

" No, you were speaking the truth, at least I have a future with Mr zayn, he is a muslim, you are not " I said, trying to break his heart not crushing it.

" You must be kidding me " he shouted.

" Don't shout at me " I said putting my index on my mouth.

" You are trying to drive me crazy right?? You are trying to make me jealous??" he said.

" And why do I care about this??" I said.

" Because....because you like me, I know that you like me, but you are trying to suffocate your feelings, you are trying to bury them under the mountain of disappointments you have in your life, you are acting like you don't care, but you do care, very much actually, more than I can imagine, more than anybody can imagine, that's why you always try your best to hide it very Well, I know you care because I can see the spontanous smile that is drawn on your face once you see me, the luster in your eyes When you see me, I know this because I see myself in them, and this is the only reflection of myself that I like, that I love " he said, as tears kept playing at the corners of his eyes.

I was speechless, my mind has betrayed me, I just stood there starring at him as he ran away, I couldn't even ask him to stop or come back for me, he just ran away, like a prey from a predator, and I felt guilty about it, he was my victim.

He made me face the truth that I have been running from since my father's death, I isolated myself from the world, tried my best to make minimal contact with the world, I couldn't handle any other loss, I didn't want to love someone deeply and then lose them like my father, I distanced myself from every body including my family, I called it my safety margin, because I knew that losing another loved one would kill me.

Until he came along, he didn't have anything to do with this war Inside my head, but I dragged him accidentaly into my battles, now he is fighting not only for me, but also for himself, I hurt him brutally and I didn't even notice it.

Now my safety margin is becoming a trap not only for me but also for my loved ones, I want to get rid of it, I want to get rid of the chains of the past, the ones that I have made for my self that to restrict my feelings.

Either I get rid of them, or I will lose another loved one, but this time it wasn't going to be an accident that I don't have anything to do with, it was going to be my fault.

That day I went home, dragging my legs, trying to act normally.

After lunch, I heard the door bell rang, I went to open the door and my heart sank, it was my estranged brother.

And the first words that came out of my mouth were.

" What reminded you of us after all those years???" I said